| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: name upon the card?"
"It is," said the Scarecrow. "But may I ask what 'H. M.' stands for?"
"'H. M.' means Highly Magnified," returned the Woggle-Bug, proudly.
"Oh, I see." The Scarecrow viewed the stranger critically. "And are you, in
truth, highly magnified?"
"Sir," said the Woggle-Bug, "I take you for a gentleman of judgment and
discernment. Does it not occur to you that I am several thousand times
greater than any Woggle-Bug you ever saw before? Therefore it is plainly
evident that I am Highly Magnified, and there is no good reason why you
should doubt the fact."
"Pardon me," returned the Scarecrow. "My brains are slightly mixed since I
The Marvelous Land of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: most agreeable old-lady faces in the world presented themselves at
the window. They were the Miss Berrys. They had driven up behind
me and got out to have a little talk on the sidewalk. I took them
into Mr. Bancroft's room and was thankful that my muff had sent me
back to receive a visit which at their age is rarely paid. . . . I
found them full of delight at Mr. Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak, with
whose nobleness of soul they would have great sympathy. He is just
now the lion of London, and like all other lions is run after by
most people because he is one, and by the few because he deserves to
be one. Now, lest you should know nothing about him, let me tell
you that at his own expense he fitted out a vessel, and established
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: known in the Church as the patron of all young people. On his
festival, the altar in the chapel devoted to him in a certain
church in Rome "is embosomed in flowers, arranged with exquisite
taste; and a pile of letters may be seen at its foot, written to
the Saint by young men and women, and directed to 'Paradiso.'
They are supposed to be burnt unread except by San Luigi, who
must find singular petitions in these pretty little missives,
tied up now with a green ribbon, expressive of hope, now with a
red one, emblematic of love," etc.[214]
[214] Mademoiselle Mori, a novel quoted in Hare's Walks in Rome,
1900, i. 55.
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: hombros, estas literas iban adornadas con plumages y con flores:
iban tanendo, cantando y bailando delante de ellos . . . Cuando
Ileviban los ninos a matar, si llevaban y echaban muchos
lagrimas, alegrabansi los que los llevaban porque tomaban
pronostico de que habian de tener muchas aguas en aquel ano."
Sahagun, Historia Nueva Espana, Bk. II, ch. i.
Bernal Diaz describes how he saw one of these monstrous
figures--that of Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, all inlaid
with gold and precious stones; and beside it were "braziers,
wherein burned the hearts of three Indians, torn
from their bodies that very day, and the smoke of them and
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
